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According to Heavy, Brian Stann vs. Mike Massenzio is in the works for UFC on Versus 2. Stann confirmed on his twitter that the bout will take place in the Middleweight division. Stann was in favor of dropping down to 185 after dropping a unanimous decision to Phil Davis at UFC 109. Massenzio hasn't fought since UFC 92, losing via TKO to CB Dollaway. UFC on Versus 2 is scheduled for August 1, 2010 from the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Nate Marquardt didn't have to wait too long for the UFC to find him a new opponent, but he will have to wait a little bit longer for the fight to happen. Brazilian fighter Rousimar Palhares is in talks to face Marquardt in Oakland for UFC 117 on August 7.
-------------------Correction to that last story...Marquardt vs. Palhares is possible for August, but show still yet to be determined------------------------
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Massachusetts native Joe Lauzon will get his wish.
A few weeks after telling MMAjunkie.com that he expected to fight at UFC 118, the organization's first-ever event in Boston, Lauzon has now verbally agreed to face Englishman Terry Etim at the event.
Fighters Only magazine was the first to report the new matchup, and MMAjunkie.com has since confirmed the proposed bout with sources close to the promotion.
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UFC middleweight Jorge Rivera told MMAjunkie.com in March that he shouldn't even have to ask to fight at UFC 118, the promotion's first trip to Boston.
Apparently, he didn't.
MMAjunkie.com has learned from sources close to the promotion that the Massachusetts resident and Italian slugger Alessio Sakara have verbally agreed to meet at the event.
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The hometown kid gets a dream come true.
The Boston show set for August 28 is starting to fill up with local stars and the latest is former "Ultimate Fighter" competitor Joe Lauzon who returns to action to face Terry Etim on the card.
The bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fight on Tuesday. Fighter's Only first confirmed the bout on Tuesday.
After sitting out for the majority of 2009 with a knee injury, Massachusetts' fighter Joe Lauzon (18-5) came back at UFC 108 with aspirations of getting into the deep end of the lightweight division right away. Lauzon came up a little short in his comeback bid, losing a unanimous decision to Canadian fighter Sam Stout.

Forrest Griffin's spot didn't stay empty very long.
Mere hours after reports surfaced that the former light heavyweight champion had been forced out of his UFC 114 contest with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, MMAjunkie.com has learned that Jason Brilz has agreed to take the fight on a little less than four-weeks' notice.
Sources close to the promotion indicated that verbal agreements are in place and bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly.
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Forrest Griffin has had to withdraw from his scheduled light heavyweight bout with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. The two were set to co-main event UFC 114 on May 29 in Las Vegas. A grudge match between former light heavyweight champions and “Ultimate Fighter” coaches Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson heads the fight card.
MMAWeekly.com confirmed with sources close to the fighter’s camp that Griffin injured his shoulder and had to withdraw from the fight. TMZ.com was the first to report his exit.
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Despite cashing a $30,000 bonus check in his most recent outing, UFC middleweight contender Tom Lawlor isn't interested in another "Fight of the Night" award when he meets Joe Doerksen on the preliminary card of Saturday's UFC 113 event in Montreal.
"A lot of people said, 'I can't wait to see that fight; that fight's going to be awesome, and I hope it's Fight of the Night,'" Lawlor recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio. "That is the biggest insult and the worst thing you could tell somebody – that I hope they fight for 15 minutes, and I hope they take damage.
"I'd rather fight guys that really aren't that good."
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After posting a 3-0 record following his release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2009, light heavyweight Tim Boetsch (11-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) is returning to the organization to fight Thiago Silva (14-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at UFC 117 in August.
Sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com verbal agreements are in place and bout agreements will be finalized in the coming week.
The fight, first reported by Sherdog.com, takes place Aug. 7 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.
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UFC lightweight Jim Miller goes for his fifth straight victory, and Gleison Tibau goes for his fifth win in six fights when the pair meets in August at UFC on Versus 2.
A source close to the event told MMAjunkie.com at least one fighter has agreed to the bout, though the individual fighters' camps did not immediately return messages requesting comment.
UFC on Versus 2 take place Aug. 1 at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City.
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Former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Randy Couture is expected to fight former boxing middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion James Toney at UFC 118 in a bout that will be an interesting experiment to find out what happens when someone with world-class boxing skills tries his hand at mixed martial arts.
And Couture, whose primary reason for continuing to fight in his late 40s is to participate in interesting fights, wants to be challenged by a Toney who's in peak physical condition. Which is why Couture wants their fight to be contested at the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds, rather than the heavwyeight limit of 265.

Kurt Pellegrino may be riding an impressive four-fight win streak in the UFC, but he still seems to think he could be just one loss away from retirement.
That's what he claims anyway, saying in the past that his next loss would prompt him to quit the sport for good. When asked by Ariel Helwani on this week's episode of The MMA Hour whether he was willing to stick to that claim, the lightweight contender affirmed that it wasn't just idle talk.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is expected to host its next U.K. show in October, and the show is slated to air for free on Spike TV in the U.S.
The event, potentially UFC 120, is expected to take place Oct. 16 at The O2 in London, England, sources close to the show today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
Although not officially set, the show is in the works and could be finalized in the next month. It's expected to air via same-day delay in North America.
No fighters officially have been tapped for the overseas card, but a source said – health and schedule permitting – British welterweight contender Dan Hardy could be featured prominently in the event. The Team Rough House fighter hasn't competed since a tough-fought unanimous-decision loss to champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 111 in March. The loss snapped Hardy's seven-fight win streak.

If you believe what his boxing trainer told the TATAME website recently, possibly. Comments from Carlos Dorea: "The first step would [have been] the Brazilian championship, after he beat Cro Cop. He was the super heavy holder of the Bahia's team, but UFC scheduled his fight with Gilbert Yvel, so I had to take him off the team. His evolving is fantastic, he has one of the best boxing techniques of international MMA. If everything goes right, he will compete in this area and, who knows, in the future he can bring a few medals to Brazil... He is a phenomenon."

When Luiz Cane was destroyed by Antonio Rogerio Nogueira this past November at UFC 106, no one was more shocked by the result than "Banha," himself.
His lone prior loss was via disqualification after blasting James Irvin with an illegal knee at UFC 79 in December 2007.
But Nogueira outstruck the brawling Cane and earned a TKO in just 1:56. With Cane now scheduled to face French striker Cyrille Diabate at UFC 114 in May, the Brazilian slugger said he's working on a complete retooling effort to address the lessons learned against Nogueira.
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Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson was hoping to get back into the win column in 2010, and he may have just notched one of the most important victories of his life.
TMZ reports that plaintiff Holli Griggs has dropped her lawsuit against "Rampage" after suing him for his bizarre motor vehicle incident following his unanimous decision loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86: "Jackson vs. Griffin" back in July 2008.
The Tennessee native -- who had a massive pick-up truck with his image plastered on various sides — fled the scene of an accident and then continued to weave in and out of traffic and allude police, causing at least one more collision before coming to a stop.
While Jackson was cleared of any criminal charges relating to the miscarriage suffered by Griggs just days after everything went down, she slapped him with a civil suit seeking more than $25,000 in damages.

Those are the thoughts of Mirko Cro Cop's next opponent, Pat Barry-a man who also just happens to idolize Cro Cop. "Cro Cop, since the beginning of my career, has been one of my top five favorite and most dangerous fighters of all time. Just the fact that I get to test myself against him, one of my idols, obviously I must be doing something right to be given this opportunity. I'm just gonna swing for the fences and see what happens. My brother and I used to sit around watching him in K-1 saying 'I hope I never have to fight this guy, ever.' He's the same Cro Cop. He's as deadly as he ever was. The only difference is, instead of him falling off, everyone else has had no choice but to get that much better."

He's back. Again. Word just broke that David Loiseau has been added to UFC 115 in Vancouver and will face Mario Miranda. The Montreal-based fighter had originally been offered a middleweight bout against John Salter for the UFC’s third trip to the eastern Canadian city this Saturday. However, when the Quebec Boxing Commission would not initially grant Loiseau his renewal license in the province, the promotion gave the vacant position to Jason MacDonald.
Update: The fight is now official.

Everyone deserves a second chance in life, and Ricco Rodriguez is hoping for his own follow-up shot at the bigtime.
In 2002, Rodriguez was on top of the MMA world when he defeated Randy Couture to become the UFC heavyweight champion. At the time, he was just 25 years old and seemed to have the world in front of him. Three fights and three losses later, Rodriguez was out of the UFC and his life began to spiral out of control, but now there's hope that Rodriguez is turning things around and working towards redemption.
Last night in Waterloo, Iowa, the now 32-year-old Rodriguez knocked out veteran journeyman Travis Fulton, earning his sixth straight win.
Before the fight, Rodriguez, who at one time weighed over 300 pounds and has fought at heavyweight for years, told The Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier that he had plans on changing his weight class.

That's the World's Strongest Opinion on them coming from the World's Strongest Man-Mariusz Pudzianowski. "This whole MMA ranking stuff is a big pile of B.S. Everybody is in such love with Brock Lesnar, who came from nothing, zero MMA experience, and now he's considered one of the best? He fought only five times and is now considered Mr. Untouchable? Why not me then? Nobody knows how hard I'm preparing myself. I'm training with the best Polish wrestlers; these are top guys. It's easy to do when you're not fighting for money - I'm already a very wealthy guy with a secured future - but for the love and new challenge, and always for my fans, here in Poland and abroad. I would never, repeat never, start fighting in MMA if I didn't believe I could be the best. First Kawaguchi, then Sylvia - sorry guys, you are in my way." Kawaguchi is current DEEP Megaton (Heavyweight/Super Heavyweight) Champion Yusuke Kawaguchi, who Pudz is preparing to face before Sylvia.